BELFAST – They slipped in the mud, ran through the slop, tried to ignore the icy pinpricks on their skin from a constant rain, and did their best to ignore the feeling their lungs weren’t getting enough air and their muscles were about to completely fail.

And they did it all for the chance to hold a medal and maybe raise a championship plaque in a warm, dry gym.

Out of the 300 or so runners assembled at the 3.1-mile course at Troy Howard Middle School on a soggy, shivery Saturday, a little more than 10 percent got that chance as the girls teams from Hampden Academy, Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln, Washington Academy of East Machias, and Mt. Blue of Farmington came away with Eastern Maine cross country regional titles in Classes B, C, D, and A, respectively.

In Class B, the ongoing duel between Hampden and Ellsworth appears to be headed on to the state championship meet to settle bragging rights. The Eagles are 3-2 against HA this season, but the Broncos have won the last two – both postseason meets.

Saturday’s meet figured to be a nail-biter, and most of the Broncos runners were convinced they’d lost despite placing five runners in the top 24 and seven among the top 33. Instead, it ended up being a 63-72 Broncos win.

“We thought we lost, so we were delightfully surprised. We really, honestly had no idea,” said senior Oriana Farley, who led HA with a time of 20 minutes, 26.5 seconds and a fourth-place finish. “We figured maybe we’d win by one … Maybe. To win by nine is a shock.”

Junior Molly Balentine finished seventh (20:37.9) to help pace the Broncs.

“Our entire team, except for Oriana and Molly, is capable of running pretty much the same time, so we’re trying to have everyone have a good day on the same day,” said senior co-captain MacKenzie Rawcliffe, who finished 24th in 22:13.1. “It seems like it’s always been half and half most of the season.”

The other HA finishers were Shelly Estes (20th, 22:00.6), Melissa Estes (29th, 22:36) and Amelia Potvin (33rd, 22:40.5).

Ellsworth was paced by sophomore Lacie Dow, who finished first overall in 19:48.5. She no more than crossed the finish line before dropping.

“Both my knees are usually kind of weak toward the end of a race,” said Dow. “They usually give out at the end, but this time it was more like my whole body felt like giving up.”

In Class C, MA won its first regional title in four years and will make its first state meet appearance in three, thanks to four Lynx runners – three of them freshmen – being among the first 10 to cross the finish line Saturday.

“We were really excited coming into the season because we knew the younger runners had talent,” said lone senior Codi Slike, who led the MA mob with a time of 23:04.9 and a fourth-place finish. “About halfway through the season, we started moving up and Beth Kettle joined to be our fifth runner.”

Kettle finished 10th in 24:05.4 while Quinci Sanderson (23:24.6) and Mindy Martin (23:31.9) were sixth and seventh, respectively. Junior Lindsey Ruhl (24:58.8) was 19th, freshman Sarah Whitney (25:12.7) 22nd, and sophomore Donni-Jean Russell (26:23.10) 30th.

Foxcroft Academy finished second with 63 points, 17 behind the Lynx. Sophomore Bethany Patten of Bucksport was the individual winner with a time of 22:04.5.

In Class D, the Raiders outdueled rival Woodland 53 to 58 to win a second straight regional title.

Two sophomores and a freshman led the way for WA as sophomore Daphne Nichols was second overall with a time of 22:23.2. Sophomore Leila Alciere (23:23.1) and freshman Amanda Williams (22:36.7) were ninth and 10th, respectively.

“It is kind of amazing. It really is, but we have a pretty good feeder system,” said WA coach Frank Johnson. “It also helps having some tough competition right next door with Woodland and Narraguagus.”

Senior Stefany Almendinger (24:35.9) was 19th, sophomore Sarah Livingstone (26:57.3) 34th, and senior Jovana Vlaskalin (30:11.7) 50th.

In Class A, Mt. Blue won a squeaker with Mount Ararat of Topsham as it won a 45-45 tiebreaker on the strength of its No. 6 runner, who finished 21st compared to the 23rd position notched by the Eagles’ No. 6 girl.

Mt. Blue senior Erin Archard won with a time of 19:33.6.